This is one of the most extensive bunker sites in the Wissant area and is located around one of the most unusual buildings too.
There are an estimated 28 concrete constructions still remaining at Stp121 Malervilla on the ridge above the village and beach area where several large bunker sites and artillery batteries once stood.
The first barracks and observation posts were built here in 1941 but by 1942 the site had become the central headquarters for the railway gun batteries which operated on lines running through the area to Calais and north of Boulogne.
At the centre of the site is a house known as Le Typhonium, a neo-Egyptian villa constructed in 1890 for two local artists. Now a private family home, the Typhonium building itself was modified by the German occupiers to include an observation post on top of its main tower.
This gave soldiers an incredible view over the beaches and coast between Cap Blanc Nez and Cap Gris Nez, and the white cliffs of Kent in southern England.
In the woodland surrounding the house are a number of discoverable bunkers which can be viewed with permission.
The largest and most numerous of these are the Vf2a type personnel shelters where eight remain, including two which are double sized with two adjoining main rooms linked by a central door. All of them are buried but you can see double-sided entrances at each end.
Both the double Vf2a shelters here are accessible and are in good condition, including their original paintwork in places, and metal door frames surrounding their emergency escape exits – most were removed for their scrap value at the end of the war.
At the entrances you can still see several letter ‘L’ painted above the doors or on the wall near the door frames, indicating they were Leicht or light shelters.
While many of the other positions are covered by woodland undergrowth and difficult to spot, you can still see several Tobruks, a Wellblech shelter now used as a store, and two of the original observation and measuring posts near to the Typhonium building.